BMW-K said it well. With over 20 years in the camping industry, I can tell you with certainty that the cost is all about the quality of construction, features and design. Any good two person tent will easily hit the $300 mark. I agree that Sierra Trading Post and REI-Outlet.com are two great sources for finding discounted product.

The only tents that I have ever seen specifically designed for motorcycling are the small trailer tents and the Redverz (formerly Nomad Tent Company) http://redverz.com/tents.html.

Otherwise, look for a good, lightweight backpacking tent with a large vestibule. I generally recommend going one person bigger than you need to accommodate your gear. (eg: motorcycle jackets take up much more space than your average TNF Goretex jacket.)

There are many things you can skimpy on but don't on a tent and sleeping bag. Life can seriously suck if either of those suck in shitty weather....even fair weather conditions, a tent that fails just makes the trip a little less fun.

Same goes for luggage, buy the best you can afford.

Trust me, learned my lesson the hard way cause I was a cheap ass on the wrong stuff.

add to that, good tents (small, light-ish, easily packable, setupable, strikable) . . . . the market simeply isn't very large -- it's not like they make 500K of any particular model . . . .so the cost reflects that small run reality.

__________________
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One time when I was assigned to lake patrol duty, there was quite a bad storm that ripped through a couple of the campgrounds. Even some trees were uprooted and vehicles damaged. I noticed the only tents left standing were the good ones, all the cheap stuff had ripped apart at the seams, spars were snapped, outer flys torn up, etc.
The "expensive" tents came through it all: my own Dana Design tent, which I had loaned to a camping friend, was one of the ones left standing.

A couple of summers ago, I sat out a thunderstorm with winds so strong I watched a tent in the next campsite lift off the ground with people in it. My forty dollar tent survived undamaged. Part of tent survival is proper set up, allowing for wind direction, and using the right stakes for soil conditions.

Ok here's a diff view. My buddy did a trip to Alaska/ key west. Both ways. He started with 500$ tents and ended up with Walmart 50$ tents. His exact words were they were all the same as far as waterproof and bad weather. he saw no advantage between the high dollar and the Wallmart el cheapos. Oh I forgot he was on his bicycle.

I've been looking as well and the only major difference I've seen between stuff at the "everything costs at least $200 or more" stores and what I can get from most sporting good or big box retailers is the weight and how small it packs. Fairly significant, but if you are on a budget, paying $50 for a Coleman (or whatever) and having to fork over $200-$400 for the average REI (or other fancy shop) tent is a pretty big deal.